Politics

Parliament

Bulgaria is a Parliamentary Republic and the basic power in the country is the legislative one. The Parliament (The National Assembly) exercises the legislative power, as well as the right to parliamentary control.

The mandate of the National Assembly is a 4 - year one.

The National Assembly consists of 240 MPs. They are elected directly by the voters for a 4 year term, on the basis of the proportional system. So that the parties and the pre-election coalitions enter the National Assembly, they must collect above 4% of the total number of votes at the elections. The MPs of the National Assembly represent not only their election regions, but the whole nation as well. The MPs work in compliance with the Constitution and the legislation, following their conscience and convictions. The National Assembly elects temporary and permanent commissions, where MPs participate. It adopts laws, decisions, declarations and statements. Every member of the National Assembly or the Council of Ministers has the right to introduce a draft of a law. The draft law on the state budget is developed and introduced by the Council of Ministers.

Government

The Government (The Council of Ministers) is the main body of the executive power, headed by the Prime Minister. The Council of Ministers rules and conducts the internal and foreign policy of the state, secures the public order and the national security, exercises control over the public administration and the military forces.

The Prime Minister to be is nominated by the largest parliamentary group, after which the President hands in the mandate to him for forming the government. The proposed Council of Ministers is voted by the National Assembly, which controls directly the activity of the government.

President

The President is the Head of State and is elected with direct elections once in every five years, for not more that two mandates.

The Vice President is elected at the same time, with the same voting paper, and under the same conditions and procedure, as of the President.

The President is the supreme commander of the military forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. He assigns and discharges the supreme command staff of the military forces and promotes the supreme officers into higher ranks on proposals by the Council of Ministers. The President is the Chairperson of the Consultative Council for national security.

Local Government Executive Authorities

The status and powers of the local executive authorities depend on the territory structure of the country.

The municipality is the main administrative territorial unit for the local government. The policy of every municipality is determined by the Municipality Council and includes the economic development, the environmental policy, the educational, the cultural, etc. activities. The Municipality Council approves the annual budgets and development plans of the corresponding municipality.

Every municipality is ruled by a Mayor. The Mayor is in charge of the whole executive activity of the municipality, of keeping the public order, and organizes the distribution of the municipality budget.

The region is the bigger administrative territorial unit. Through it the governmental local policy is conducted in a decentralized and more effective way. A regional governor, assigned by the Council of Ministers, rules each region.

Judiciary Bodies

The judicial power in Bulgaria is independent. It is built up on the basis of a procedure of three instances.

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), and the Supreme Cassation Court (SCC) exercise control over the implementation of the law by the courts of lower instances, and take decisions on the legality of the executive power’s acts.

The Constitutional Court determines if the laws and the international agreements are in compliance with the Constitution. A Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has been established, which organizes the activity of the judiciary.

The acting Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria was adopted in July 1991. It was built on the basic principles of the contemporary constitutionalism.

The Constitution provides a multi- party parliamentary system and free elections, in which all the citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria take part with the right to vote. After the elections, the largest parliamentary group constructs the government. So that the government is approved (The Council of Ministers), as well as for adoption of regular legal acts, general parliament majority is required. Amendments in the Constitution are to be adopted through three quarters of parliament majority.